Food product and process of making the same



Jan. 1,1924 4 1,479,418

N. MININBERG FOOD PRODUCT AND PROCESS OF' vMAKING THE SAME I orivginal' Filed Feb. zo. 1922v Patented Jan. l, 1924.

PATENT NATHAN MININBERG, 0F MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA. f

u Foon PRODUCT AND raocnss or MAKING THE SAME.

Application led February 20, 1922, Serial No'. 537,996. Renewed .Tune 14, 1923.

To all whom t Imay concern:

Be it known that I, NATHAN MININBERG, a citizen of thel United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Food Products and Processes of Making the Same; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the inven tion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a food product and a process of producing the same, and has for its object to provide aproduct which will be especially high in vitamines, and a process for producing it which will not destroy said vitamines.

Vith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel steps and combinations of steps constituting the process and in the novel product made by such process, all as will be more fully hereinafter disclosed and particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic partially sectional view of an apparatus suitable for carrying out the process; and.

Figure 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of a grain or kernel ot wheat.

In order that the precise invention may be the more clearly understood, it is said: It is well known that a kernel or grain of wheat, for example, may be divided into outer layers such as those numbered 1, 2, 3, f1 and 5, and which contain the cellulose, the phosphorus and potassium, and the coloring matter present in the grain. The succeeding layer, such as 6, contains the gluten, and the lnext portion of the grain contains the starch or flour producing portion of the grain. It is further well known that the considerable portion 8 of the grain nown as the embryo or wheat germ por ion is the richest part of the kernel as rega ds vitamines, although eachof the layers from 1 to 5 contains some vitamines in their raw lstate if they are not heated too highly. It is like- Wise well known that vitamines are readily destroyed by heat, and especially at temperatures above 212 F., the boiling point of water. Vitamines are not Jfound at all in the starchy or white flour portions of the grain.

In carrying out this invention, the object is to supply a food that is rich in starchy or nourishing material and yet is also rich in vitamines. To accomplish this result, I, separate out the starchy and glutinous por tions of the grain from the embryo portion 8, and the vitaminecarrying portions consisting of the layers 1 `to 5. That is to say,`

I take a given` amount of the Whole grain, grind it carefully between cold rollers to prevent an undue heating of the product, and to a very fine degree of fineness. I then y screen out the glutlnous layer 6 and the starchy portion 7 of the rain from other portions thereof. I next boil, say, fifty parts y weight of Water and add to it a sufficient amount of cooking soda to make it alkaline. I ind'in practice that the presence of soda accelerates the cooking of the starchy portion to some extent. I then take, say, 101; parts by weight ofthe starchy and glutinous portions of the grain and add the same to the boiling Water a little at a time, stirring all the while so as to make a smooth gelatinous mass. boil only for about a minute or a minute and a half, or until all the parts of the mixture are well blended. I then take tive and a half parts by Weight of the rest of the grain, consisting of the embryo portion 8 and the outer layers 1 to 5 and add it quickly and carefully to the mixture just produced, and in such a manner that each particle contain ing the vitamines may be deposited in the thin batter separately, so as to prevent lumping. It does not take longer than, say, thirty or forty seconds, time for this last step, and then the batter is taken from the stove and deposited in a dropper. This vdropper consists of a suitable container 10,

provided with a discharge orifice 11 and having a suitable stirrer 12 driven by a pulley 13, from a vbelt 14 operated from a motor shaft 15, on which is mounted aA pulley 16, driving a conveyer belt 17 through a plurality of chambers 18, each heated to a temperature of substantially 200 F., but below the boiling point of Water.` Suitable burners 17 fed from a gas supply7 pipe 20 and provided with cocks 21, may be employed to maintain the temperature of the'chambers 18. Further, a fan 25 is preferably employed to .blow hot air through the pipe 26 into said chambers 18 in order to maintain an equitable temperature and to reach all particles of the food product without unduly heating those carrying the vitamines. v

I allow this mixture to n The batter Vbeing of the consistency of cream, the same is placed in the container 10 and the stirrer 12 is set going. The batter is thus delivered through the opening 11 in small portions or drops which reach the conveyer belt 17 in the form of flakes or -pui's 31, which are more or less permeated with air during their descent from the openin 11 to said conveyer belt 17.

p to this point the vitamine carrying portions of the grain have not been subjected to a temperature suiciently high to destroy their valuable properties. And as the temperature in the oven 18 is not sufficiently high to destroy said vitamines, the result is a very quick drying of the puffs or flakes by means of the hot au' blast to which they are subjected. In other words, it is found in actual practice that the heating of the material is suicient to preserve the food indefinitely to enable it to'be readily digested in the stomach, and at,V the same' time to preserve the valuable vitamine properties which are possessed by the food in its raw state.

The height from which the batter Ais dropped seems. to exercise an important function, the reason for which I cannot satisfactorily explain, but I find it to be a fact that if the ortions 30 are dropped from a height of a out eighteen inches from the belt, the Hakes are of a Vbetter flavor and therefore more palatable, than if this hei rht is made greater. There may be some ifference in the amount of air absorbed in the'case when an eighteen inch height is adopted from that absorbed when a greater height is adopted and the final shape of the Hakes may have something to do with it. That is to say, with the consistency of the batter produced from the proportions` Just stated, the fiakes are more or less misshapen when they reach the belt 17 from a height higher than 18 inches and this may influence their dr ing qualities as well as their flavor.

` It is a act, however, that by proceeding as above, I am enabled to roduce a nutritious and most palatable pro uct from the whole wheat and which is unusually high in vitamine constituents. I nd that I am not limited to wheat in carrying out this process, and in makin this product, because I find that oats, bar ey, rice, etc., may be substituted for wheat with the same class of results.

It is obvious that those skilled in the art ma va the details of the procedure as wel as t e form of apparatus without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore I do not wish to be limited to the above disclosureexcept as may be required b the claims.Y What claim is: K

1. The rocess of makin a food product rich in vltamine's from t e whole grain,

which consists in segregating the starchy portions of said gram from the vitamine carrying portions; cooking said starchy ortions suiiciently to preserve them; ad ing the uncooked vitamine carrying portions to the cooked starchy portions; and drying the mixture at a temperature too low to destroy the vitamines present, substantially as described.

2. The process of making a food product from whole grain without destroylng the vitamines present, which consists in grinding said grain to a fine state of subdivision; separating the starchy or nonvitamne carrymg portions; boilin said starchy portions for a predetermined time in water; adding the vitamine portions to said starchy portions; stopping the boiling` operation before the vitamines present are destroyed; droppin the batter thus produced through air; an heatin same at a temperature be ow 212 F., substantially as described.

3. The herein described new food product consisting of the cooked starchy portions of whole grains admixed with the uncooked vitamine carrying portions of said grains,

the whole being in a dry state, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I aiix m si ature. NATHAN MINIlTB 

